STRONG SHOWING ON SATURDAY MAY GIVE HENDERSON TITLE SHOT

One of my favorite films by Robert Rodriguez, “Sin City,” has a character named Marv, played by Mickey Rourke. In the film, Clive Owen’s character Dwight says that Marv “was just born in the wrong century. He’d be perfectly at home on some ancient battlefield swinging an ax into somebody’s face.”

Physically, that’s what I think of when I see Dan Henderson fight. He’s a skilled wrestler and boxer and a master at maintaining control and position. While tactful, he is absent of finesse. It’s his brutal toughness that ends up overwhelming his opponents, often by way of his overhand right, which might as well have a club or an ax attached to it.

“He’s a man’s man,” says Luke Rockhold, the last title holder in Strikeforce’s middleweight division and new member of the UFC. He faces Vitor Belfort in Brazil come May and was in Murrieta helping Henderson train for his Saturday fight against former UFC light-heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida in UFC 157 in Anaheim.

A strong showing from Henderson would make a good argument for a title shot in the 205-pound class, a chance robbed of him late last year when a knee injury forced him out of the now infamous UFC 151, which was canceled after Henderson went down during fight week and Jon Jones refused a replacement fight with middleweight Chael Sonnen.

“Nobody’s 100 percent for a fight,” Rockhold said. “Dan’s ready to go, he has hands of steel, and too much heart and too much will. I’m excited for this fight, and I believe he’s going to get it done.”

At 42, Henderson is at the top of the sport. Only Randy Couture could compare in terms of high-profile fights waged during his fourth decade, but Henderson’s competition is arguably much closer to their prime than the likes of the Tito Ortiz and Tim Silvias of Couture’s late-career highlights.

In the last few years Henderson has collected knockouts of Michael Bisping and Fedor Emelianenko and earned his title shot by putting down the legendary Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Henderson has held belts in both PRIDE and Strikeforce, missing only a title in the UFC to become the first modern triple crown champion reigning over all three organizations during his career.

After 15 years of fighting following an Olympic wrestling career, you would think that “Hendo’s” days are numbered to get there, but it would be news to him.

“To be honest, I really haven’t sat down to reflect” Henderson said. “I’ve always been one to look forward, and I still have goals to accomplish in my career, and obviously that UFC gold would be a nice way to finish.”

On a personal level, Henderson is the furthest thing from brutal.

His demeanor is calm and collected, he’s courteous and patient, and priorities have shifted to being a good father to his three children.

A brand new Team Quest gym that is 250,000 square feet is due to open in Temecula in the near future, and Henderson has been having a friend collect video footage of his daily life to “show my grandkids someday.”

Eventually, he may sit down and reflect on all of the things he has done, but that will have to wait.